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A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

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Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#111

Post by prepend »

guerrilla wrote: post #95
SmirkingRevenge wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is, if you don't have the context, you are operating from a position of ignorance. What if conditions do suck and are terribly miserable at Amazon's warehouses? But... what if, despite that, the conditions are actually better than typical warehouse jobs? In that case, by singling out Amazon, you are actually punishing them for having better warehouse conditions than anyone, and helping their competitors whe…

No context is needed to want conditions to change: conditions at amazon aren't the way people want them to be, regardless of any context.

Context is absolutely needed. How can I possibly want a particular condition at Amazon if I don’t understand it. For example, is $18 too low? Is 8-10 hour manual labor days bad? I can’t say I’m against the working conditions unless I know what typical working conditions are. And if Amazon is the best of all possible conditions for unskilled warehouse work then me calling for change at Amazon is way less effective than for some other place where my attention will have more impact.

This idea of “any change is good” is dangerous because it ignores opportunity cost. An example is that it can actually be bad to raise awareness for a rare disease if it takes away donations from a common disease. It can cost lives and do harm because dollars become less effective.

Focusing on the wrong thing can be worse than apathy and it seems really weird that people can form opinions without data and facts. Especially in a world where PR bullshit can form such emotional reactions.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#112

Post by mikelyons »

andreilys wrote: post #89
high_5 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what postmodern era is. End of belief. IMO that's the fruit of scepticism as a way of life which has become well entrenched in the modern, well educated societies. As if we're in another stage of consequences of eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge (as a society).

I do wonder what an end game looks like for a society that has no strong unified set of beliefs or meaning. Citizens left to themselves to decide meaning (with these “decisions” often co-opted by influence professionals whose job is to inject values and extract cash from consumers)

It's not a decision so much as lots of difficult emotional labor that almost nobody in our society is prepared or willing to do. Absolute Truth is accessible to your direct experience. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nvaPmKQVIuQ

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#113

Post by dzader »

logicprog wrote: post #93

Okay so wait, we have corporations trying to turn the public against a competitor for being "too successful," in the hopes that it will let them use the apparatus of government to hobble said competitor in any way without repercussions, and no one is upset about this? Instead, we just go along with this fake-grassroots idea of "oh yeah Amazon is an evil empire"? This doesn't process for me. I mean seriously, Amazon i…

> And before you talk about how Amazon acts monopolistically by promoting their own or favorite products, it's their platform,

Just like Windows was Microsoft's platform and anyone was free to install whatever browser they wanted... Use Netscape all you want!

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#114

Post by gimmeThaBeet »

logicprog wrote: post #93

Okay so wait, we have corporations trying to turn the public against a competitor for being "too successful," in the hopes that it will let them use the apparatus of government to hobble said competitor in any way without repercussions, and no one is upset about this? Instead, we just go along with this fake-grassroots idea of "oh yeah Amazon is an evil empire"? This doesn't process for me. I mean seriously, Amazon i…

Personally that's why I tend to like the American anti-trust standard of consumer welfare, and it bothers me that politicians are trying to dislodge it.

It really does bother me when the facets of the complaints against the giants boil down to basically, they're too good at that, or they can do things that others can't. At a blunt level, isn't that the point?

Isn't it what we want? When we talk about services, not petroleum, I find it difficult to see nearly the deep damage that their market positions would cause in a different line of business.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#115

Post by malandrew »

fucking_tragedy wrote: post #33
opportune wrote: post #15

It’s funny because the whole “Amazon ambassador” thing is just Amazon doing the same thing in reverse. What I hate most about the 21st century is how almost nothing feels genuine anymore. The news, any sort of campaign, even “science” in a lot of cases are just people using money to tell us what to think. Maybe it’s been like this for decades and we’re just now waking up to it, but regardless it just makes it all fee…

Astroturfing has been happening for as long as I've been online.

But now we have the technology to automate and scale it.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#116

Post by bilbo0s »

leereeves wrote: post #107
logicprog wrote: post #93

Okay so wait, we have corporations trying to turn the public against a competitor for being "too successful," in the hopes that it will let them use the apparatus of government to hobble said competitor in any way without repercussions, and no one is upset about this? Instead, we just go along with this fake-grassroots idea of "oh yeah Amazon is an evil empire"? This doesn't process for me. I mean seriously, Amazon i…

> Instead, we just go along with this fake-grassroots idea of "oh yeah Amazon is an evil empire"? Perhaps people really feel that Amazon is an evil empire regardless of this competitor's actions.

I think the point is that the danger may be more with the competitor than with Amazon.

Or even worse, they're all equally terrible. Which would mean that no matter what we do, we lose privacy and freedoms.

The public is being manipulated into taking actions directly contradictory to its own good either way.

One road to death and despair, the other to disease and destruction.

You could say, "choose wisely", but it doesn't really look like it matters.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#117

Post by Porthos9K »

mabbo wrote: post #97
reilly3000 wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was referring to Coca-cola, consistently among the top advertisers in the world. Often things that are so large and commonplace, its difficult for us to see them as anything but 'normal'.

I thought to myself "that's a bit much, like advertising could trick me into drinking a dangerous beverage" then read your follow-up comment and realized I'm holding a coke in my other hand .

Insidious, isn't it? It's moments like this that I wish to all the devils ever worshiped by man that the left had jumped on the "red pill" metaphor from The Matrix instead of leaving it for misogynists and reactionaries to appropriate.

Because until the Wachowski sisters brought in the "Neo is the One" plotline with the attendant messianic tropes, the relationship between Morpheus and Thomas Anderson/Neo was one of a union organizer showing a worker blinded by false consciousness exactly how he allowed himself to be conned by his bosses.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#118

Post by Porthos9K »

greggman2 wrote: post #100
Porthos9K wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check out the ingredients on your favorite soft drink. There's probably all sorts of stuff listed that has been shown to cause cancer in rats.

Oranges, Mangos, Black Pepper, and lots of other natural things cause cancer in rats

I don't know about you, but I find it easier to consume massive quantities of Coca-Cola than I do black pepper.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#119

Post by guerrilla »

prepend wrote: post #111
guerrilla wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No context is needed to want conditions to change: conditions at amazon aren't the way people want them to be, regardless of any context.

Context is absolutely needed. How can I possibly want a particular condition at Amazon if I don’t understand it. For example, is $18 too low? Is 8-10 hour manual labor days bad? I can’t say I’m against the working conditions unless I know what typical working conditions are. And if Amazon is the best of all possible conditions for unskilled warehouse work then me calling for change at Amazon is way less effective tha…

One can understand whether a group of people's needs are met or not without further context, pretty trivial.

Re: A ‘Grass-Roots’ Campaign to Take Down Amazon Is Funded By Its Biggest Rivals

#120

Post by Porthos9K »

seph-reed wrote: post #84
wongarsu wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This world truly is a boring dystopia.

Amazing quote. I love the concept of "Boring Dystopia." Might have to name a song that.

How about "Beige Tyranny"?
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